News
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Fight for Individualized Special Education in S.F. Public Schools

05.30.2013
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By Kristine Stolakis, KALW Crosscurrents
For the past two months, KALW has spoken to families making their way through the special education system in the Bay Area. A similar thread between all the families has surfaced: having advocates helping you navigate the system makes the special education waters a little less rough. Just getting access to services can be tough. A lawsuit is currently making its way to the California courts saying that school districts aren’t giving special needs kids what the federal government guarantees them – access to a free and appropriate education. While not all parents are bringing the district to court, many involved in special education admit that just making this system work is a lot of work.

City Hall
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State Homeless ‘Bill of Rights’ Put on Hold Until Next Year

05.30.2013
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A “homeless bill of rights” in California must wait until next year for a vote in the full Assembly after clearing its first hurdle.
Advocates say the legislation would protect homeless people from local enforcement of so-called “quality of life” laws, and specify homeless people as deserving of protection in the state’s antidiscrimination statutes. » Read more

News
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S.F. Pedicabbers Pick Up Speed

05.29.2013
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By Rigoberto Hernandez, Mission Local
Mission Local reporter Rigoberto Hernandez has been a pedicab operator for Golden Gate Pedicab for the past three years. Jordan Polythress came to San Francisco from North Carolina a few months ago for his dream job: ferrying tourists around on a bike taxi. It may not sound sexy, but he likes it more than his previous jobs as a Christmas tree harvester, a whitewater rafter and combat medic in the Army Reserve. Mission resident Polythress is one of hundreds of pedicabbers in San Francisco who work as contractors for one of three companies — San Francisco Pedicabs, Cabrio Taxi and Golden Gate Pedicab. “When you break it down, all we are doing [is] moving people around in our tricycles,” he said.

From the Newsroom

Don’t Let the Fog Fool You

05.28.2013
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San Francisco is getting sunnier. Not in the way you might learn about from TV news or features in the daily papers; superficial stories about the warm weather at street festivals are cheap and easy to produce. The sunshine we need is of a kind that’s harder to capture. Journalists at the San Francisco Public Press are hard at work for you, illuminating complex and consequential policy questions in the city and across the Bay Area. In every quarterly print edition and in updates online we produce an in-depth team reporting project exposing obscure public documents that we wrest from recalcitrant city and regional agencies.

News
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S.F. Rents Mapped — Pricey, Pricier, Priciest

05.27.2013
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Posted by David Weir, KQED News Fix
The apartment rental startup Zumper has updated its maps of the median rents for one- and two-bedroom apartments in San Francisco by neighborhood. It found that the median price for a one-bedroom in the city is now $2,764. The median price for a two-bedroom is $4,000. The median is the numerical value separating the higher half of a data set from the lower half. In San Francisco, these rates vary substantially depending exactly which part of town we are talking about.

News
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Getting Ready for Rising Seas in Bay Area

05.23.2013
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By Aaron Mendelson, KALW Crosscurrents
In 1995, the movie “Waterworld” predicted catastrophic changes to the Earth’s sea levels, and painted a picture of the chaos that resulted when the water rose and society collapsed. The movie was a flop. But it got one thing right: Scientists say that melting glaciers are already contributing to rising sea levels, and that those glaciers will melt faster in the next century. Changes in the Bay Area—which has more than a thousand miles of shoreline—could be dramatic. In San Francisco, some scientists say the bay could rise as much as 5 feet.

News

Bring on the sunshine!

05.23.2013
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Summer is as good as here in San Francisco, which means it’s time for the San Francisco Public Press to kick off its Sunshine Membership Drive. As you dust off your barbecue grill and start packing your Memorial Day picnic, we hope you’ll take a moment to send a little sunshine our way — by becoming a member or renewing your membership. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of our current members! Your support makes our work possible. The journalists here at the Public Press are hard at work to bring you our next print edition’s special reporting project on California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

News
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Modern Times Bookstore in Debt, Seeking Community Support

05.22.2013
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By Laia Gordi, Mission Local
With a debt collective members estimate to be $100,000, members of the Modern Times Bookstore Collective told supporters at a meeting last week that the 41-year-old bookstore may have to close its doors in September. As a result, the Mission landmark that specializes in politically progressive volumes, is rethinking its operating plan in order to survive economic shocks of the internet age along with competition and gentrification, managers of the collective said. “We all know that we can’t just sell books,” Lex Non Scripta, the collective’s event planner, said of Modern Times and other independent bookstores struggling to stay afloat. “We have to look at other ways to sustain the stores, like programing events or having cafes. We are all looking to a long-time sustainability plan.” Borderlands Books on Valencia Street told Mission Local in 2010 that they opened a cafe in order to help sustain their book sales.

News
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Corrosion Problems on New Bridge Said to Date Back 9 Years

05.20.2013
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By KQED News Staff and Wires, KQED News Fix
Corrosion problems have plagued the construction of the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge for years before anchor bolts snapped in March, the Sacramento Bee’s Charles Pillar reported this weekend:
• Beginning in 2004, inspectors frequently warned Caltrans about water leaks and corrosion. • Experts blamed water problems on design or construction errors. Leaks of grout – a cement-based filler that normally prevents or halts corrosion – between hundreds of ducts forced long construction delays that left steel tendons exposed, making further corrosion likely. Update at 1:10 p.m: Caltrans has responded to the Sacramento Bee report: “All the Skyway tendons are stressed, properly grouted, and performing as designed and will do so for the next 150 years.” Update at 10:15 a.m: Governor Jerry Brown said that he takes safety concerns about the Bay Bridge “very seriously, and that thing’s not going to open unless it’s ready.”